This is the best thing to do after you had a ham for Easter or Christmas, but if you have leftover pork chops, they are also good in pea soup. Bacon always seems raw if you only boil it. I would fry the bacon first if I were going to use it. You can make it without meat if you prefer, but it won’t be as tasty.
Ingredients:
- Leftover meat or fried bacon as desired
- Dried peas
- Celery (2–3 stalks, chopped, raw or fried)
- Onion (peeled & chopped, raw or fried)
- Potatoes, maybe 4 large ones or more smaller ones (purple potatoes in photo above)
- ½ to 1 lbs Carrots (peeled and chopped)
- Basil, salt, pepper to taste
The night before, take your bag of dried peas and look through them to remove any stones, (which I think they add just so you need to sort the peas; recently, I have not been finding any, but I still check). Put them in a bowl or pot and cover them with water (up to about an inch over the peas) and let them soak overnight. Check the pot before going to bed. You can add more water if it looks like it was all absorbed.
In the morning, put your leftover meat in a big pot and cover it with water. Simmer or slow boil at least 2 hours. If you are using bacon, skip the next step (just leave the bacon in the water and add the peas). If you are using leftover meat with bones, run it through a colander or strainer to separate the broth from the meat. Put the broth back in the pot and put it back on the stove. Put the meat aside for later.
Add the peas. You can add the water from the peas as well. (You are not making beans; if you were, you would throw that water away.) Cook the peas in the water at least an hour and a half before adding potatoes. (NOTE: as soon as you bring the pot to boil on a high heat, turn it down to just keep it simmering — pea soup can burn easily. Stir it as needed and turn it down and stir it more if the peas start sticking to the bottom).
Meanwhile, if you were not using bacon, separate out the good meat from any bones and grizzle (yuk). Only keep the meat. Make sure the pieces are bite size and then put it in the fridge for now.
The next ingredient will be celery. Maybe use 2 or 3 stalks. Clean it and discard the tips and cut the rest up. You can either put it into the pot with the peas or you can fry it in butter a bit first and then put it in.
Now you’re crying out for onion. One large onion is probably good. Peel it and cut it up, and either put it directly into the pot or fry it first… as you like. You can add these ingredients while the peas are cooking.
Don’t add the potatoes until the peas have been cooking for about an hour and a half. It will take time to get them ready, so do that also while the peas, celery and onions are cooking. Peel and cut your potatoes into about 1½ inch pieces, or maybe cut a smallish potato into quarters — very little potatoes can be cut in half. If the skins are nice, as on new potatoes or purple potatoes, you can leave them on. But if you are using russets or something similar, I suggest peeling them. Add the potatoes to the pot when the time is right.
Then peel some carrots and cut them up and add them to the pot. I would use ½ to 1 pound.
Now you can add the meat from the fridge.
You might want to add some fresh Basil leaves, those are nice in pea soup.
Cook until the potatoes and carrots are soft enough to stick a fork in them easily and then continue cooking until the peas are making the soup a bit thick. Be sure to stir it every so often. If the potatoes are done, remove it from the heat as soon as it starts to thicken; otherwise, you will need to baby it (stir it so it doesn’t stick to the bottom) until the potatoes are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste. You might want to add some garlic powder, but I don’t usually add garlic to pea soup (put it on the table and people can add it if they desire).